Thursday, February 24, 2011

I Yearn for Coffee

I'm a yearner.  I always want something I don't have.  I yearn for coffee shops.  Everywhere.  Mmmmmm coffee.

I was thinking of coffee, no doubt, when I came across this map of Seattle in my fave vintage book, Great Cities of the World.  Not only am I fond of this city, I loved the color of the map.  Quickly, I needed some papers to fill up this board.  I wasn't in the mood to think and paint and wait, so I found papers that had already been painted.

 

Good combo of city and coffee colors, I thought.  And that blue!  Almost matches the color of the Caffe Nero cup that I brought come from London a while back.  Now what?  Words.  Words about coffee should be added.  And maybe some houses.




Words:
I once saw a photograph of an intersection in Seattle.  On each corner was a coffee shop.  This is my idea of heaven.  Imagine the smell!  Fragrant of memory and of promise.  A brew of stories.  Caffeine!
I actually saw the "photograph" on Google Maps.  How I love cruising through cities on google maps.  But now that the words are down, I'm not happy.  They should have been written in black.  So, I'll just have to write over them in black and see if I can deal with the result.

Now, I was supposed to stop and take more photos as the work progressed.  I must have been caught up in the moment and forgot.  So this is how it looks.



 I'm not quite sure what the red "lady" figures mean.  I think the blue one must be me.  I carry around my house in my soul, but I'm always wanting to move on.  Yearning for that place with coffee shops.  Perhaps I'm that red bird flying off.  And that "you are here" target -- that's just where I want to be right now.  With a steaming cup of coffee in front of me.

8 comments:

Chris said...

Jeez, I really want a cup of coffee now. I'm having a f*** day at work. I like the art. Thanks for the diversion.

ArtPropelled said...

Have you ever thought of opening a little coffee shop? Imagine Kim Hambric canvases on the walls.

Francesca said...

This is lovely and I really enjoy seeing the process. Coffee is my afternoon drink and I look forward to it all day :)

p said...

wow. kim.
i know it sucks where you live, but you might not have made this had you not yearned...i have to say i look at a lot of art online and feel like i'm looking at the same thing over and over. when i saw this blog post i felt excited and alive. no shit.

Susan said...

Hogie! Love the piece and I love how you talked about how this piece evolved. I find myself yearning, and I yearned for many years for silly things(I guess it was more envy). I yearned to live in one place and set up roots. I yearned to buy a house, to live somewhere where you did not go out and all you saw were buzzed cut men walking around. I yearned to be away from a strip of pawnshops and strip clubs. So funny what our heart desires. I know you have your many dislikes for your town, but State College has one good thing going for it and that is the Hambrics live there.

P.S. I don't yearn for those things as much...Go have a Starbucks.

Professor Chaos said...

I don't even like coffe and I looooove the smell! I like to go into coffeeshops and eat pastry and enjoy the smell.

Also, your art you made from the Seattle map is fabulous!

Kathy Hodge said...

This one is so interesting! I like the way it got more and more complicated. I could sure use a good coffee shop in walking distance from my house too...

Pat Dolan said...

Hey Kim, have you found any artsy friends to meet/play/visit a gallery/critique/find new art stores with?

There are more than a few of us in and around State College. And yes, it's hard to fit into a community when you're the newby.


I've been here nearly 3 years already, and I admit, it does take a long time to build up friendships and a sense of home to a new place. But it does happen over time!

Let's meet for coffee/tea someday - I love the smell of most coffees, but totally prefer tea!